Don't wear a seatbelt", I was told. "You'll feel all the bumps." This advice returns to me as I cling to the armrest of the 4x4 in what I hope is a nonchalant manner while we charge towards a giant sand dune. The lengths people will go to for amusement. But then this is Qatar, which has been criticised by some for its lack of diversions. All sensible thoughts evaporate as we accelerate down the side of an unfeasibly steep, butter-coloured dune while a fountain of sand showers the car, offering a brief cocoon from the glare. At the last second, Rami, our driver and guide, flicks the wheel and we're back at ground level, still upright and apparently intact.
The elderly Swiss gentleman in the back seat is taking it all in his stride so I can't let the side down. Still, there are some facts that need to be established. Does the car ever flip over, I ask Rami. "No, never," he replies. Do you ever get lost? "I have GPS," he says, smiling comfortingly. All praise modern technology: we're safe. "It's up here," he adds, grinning and pointing at his head. That's not quite what I had in mind.
I'm in the desert, south of the capital, Doha. All around me are sand dunes the size of small office blocks and we're heading, via the peaks of some of the larger ones, towards the huge inland sea (Khor Al-Udeid) that separates the southern part of the country from Saudi Arabia. Qatar juts out of Saudi Arabia like a hitch-hiker's thumb and is blessed with sweeping dunes that stretch to the edge of the sea, surrounded on three sides by the Persian Gulf. Yet Qatar's beautiful desert scenery is one of its least lucrative natural assets. This tiny nation has a very large purse – per capita it is the richest country in the world – but it's all due to the oil and natural gas found in abundance offshore. Before oil was discovered in 1939, Qatar's income came from trading, fishing and pearl-diving. These days for their pearls, Qataris browse the air-conditioned boutiques that crowd the sprouting shopping malls.
With the third-largest reserves of natural gas in the world and a leading role secured in supplying gas-to-liquid technology, there's no chance of the coffers running dry just yet. All the same, Qatar has turned its attentions to tourism, an industry that contributes just 6 per cent of the country's GDP. Half a million people entered on tourist visas in 2004 and the tourism authority hopes to double this by 2010. This might seem a modest target considering that neighbouring Dubai attracts around five million tourists each year. But Qatar has no desire to copy its neighbour. With no need of the revenue that mass tourism would bring, Qatar can afford to be choosy, and it has loftier plans than serving beers on its beaches and building ski slopes in its shopping malls.
According to a tourism masterplan unveiled in 2004, Doha will be transformed in two years, losing its corporate image and developing into a luxury destination. The government is investing $15 billion in resorts, hotels and cultural attractions, many of which will be in place by the time Doha hosts the Asian Games in December 2006. An additional 2,550 guestrooms are on the way including several international brands; Marriott will open three hotels under its various brands – Renaissance, Courtyard by Marriott and Marriott Executive Apartments – and Hilton and Shangri-La have properties scheduled for opening in 2006.
Business is already booming; hotel occupancy rose by 11 per cent between 2003 and 2004, and room rates increased by 40 per cent in the same period. Claude Attala, business development director at Qatar Tourism Authority, says demand for accommodation is far outweighing the space available, making it difficult to promote Qatar as a destination – particularly for meetings business. "If you want more than 50 rooms you're stuck," he says. "But that is going to change – we have 36 hotel projects in the pipeline."
Attala sums up Qatar's vision for itself alongside its neighbours: "Oman has great natural beauty and is like the Africa of the Gulf. Dubai is like the Las Vegas. Qatar is aiming to be the Monte Carlo – that is what we're focusing on. People who like shopping and who are conservative and discreet and don't like flashing their money around."
In April, Four Seasons opened the first resort-style property in the city, with a white sandy beach, 110-berth marina and 20 beachside villas alongside the 18-storey hotel tower. And luxurious "lifestyle cities" are planned that will transform the barren landscapes around the city. One such area is a dusty stretch of land north of the city leading to the West Bay Lagoon, home to the Ritz-Carlton hotel. The Ritz-Carlton may seem isolated now, but it's about to become the filling in a lifestyle city sandwich. One is the North Beach Development, a 32sqkm resort with 10 hotels, two golf courses, and 15,000 villas and apartments, while the other, just offshore is Doha's answer to Dubai's Palm Island, a luxury development built on 4sqkm of reclaimed land called The Pearl, boasting hotels, private villas, marinas, shops and restaurants (see box).
For those preferring a more Arabian feel there will be Al Sharq, designed in the style of a Qatari "village" with its own souq alongside luxurious modern comforts such as a Six Senses spa. Al Sharq will be managed by Qatar National Hotels, and CEO Jurgen Baumhoff is keen to bring the Arabian touch to other hotels in Doha, some with cheaper prices. "There is no truly Arab brand in the midmarket sector," he says. "To some people budget means cheap, but we want to address a certain type of client who has a certain type of budget – we would like to call it affordable luxury. In this part of the world we are dominated by foreign brands."
Hotels and resorts that celebrate and preserve Qatari architecture are desperately needed to reinforce the identity of a city where two-thirds of the 750,000 population are foreign workers and there are precious few relics on display to the country's past. But when money is no object and the cultural landmarks in your capital are on the light side, the solution is easy – build some. Several flamboyant projects are in the pipeline, including a Museum of Islamic Arts and a National Library, both due for completion by 2006, and the architecturally spectacular Qatar Photography Museum, designed by Santiago Calatrava, which is slated to open in 2008.
As well as building new cultural treasure houses, Doha is renovating its old ones. The National Museum was closed for refurbishment during my visit so, keen for a glimpse of local history, I tried to visit the Ethnographic museum, housed in a restored Qatari house, which reportedly shows how Qatari families lived before the oil boom. It, too, was closed for renovation. I passed yet more construction as I walked towards the old town looking for the souqs that lie behind the immaculately sculpted Corniche. Eventually I discovered Souq Waqif, a sprawling network of walkways that is the most traditional of Doha's old souqs – many of the others now resemble mini air-conditioned supermarkets.
I wandered the alleyways, but despite being wrapped up I still found myself to be the most interesting item on display, and the saws and hammers in the hands of every expat worker paused as I walked by (the souq was being renovated, unsurprisingly). Later a hotel worker explained I must have been a strange sight "It's not unheard of for a woman to go there on her own, but it's quite rare."
Most visitors see the city from the refuge of an air-conditioned 4x4. Several tour companies in Doha offer half or full-day itineraries to visit sights such as the Emir's horse stables – where magnificent Arabian thoroughbreds live in air-conditioned stables – the old souqs, camel race-track, falcon market, Corniche and the inland sea, with of course some dune-bashing along the way.
Dune-bashing is clearly a popular pastime. As we drove along the seashore, it seemed that no dune had been left un-bashed; even on the highest ones, tyre tracks ventured halfway up and then petered out as if the vehicle gave up or left the ground entirely. Yet while I was there the place was utterly empty: in one direction were dazzling dunes and in the other a wide stretch of sea with the faint shapes of forts on the Saudi coastline. The only signs of life as we drove through the baking heat were a small canopy under which sat two Qataris, holding between them a falcon (teaching it to hunt, said Rami), and then later, a cluster of tents where holidaymakers and incentive groups can spend the night as part of their desert safari.
This is one of many beautiful, hidden away areas around Doha, but, aside from flinging up new hotels, Qatar is only starting to work out how to make the best of itself. Claude Attala of the QTA admits that bureaucracy has made things difficult, but there are other problems, including industrial plants and military zones next to beauty spots, and rows over land rights slowing development in some choice beach-side locations. But things are changing; surveys are under way to assess the inland sea for status as a Unesco World Heritage Site, and eco-tourism developments are on the drawing board.
Qatar is evolving but it remains a conservative Islamic state with no intention of compromising its principles for the sake of foreign dollars. Men wear national dress in public and alcohol is served only in hotels, although after a spate of complaints about young Qataris spotted out drinking, national dress is now banned in many hotel bars. Emir Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani, who took power from his father in 1995, is credited with having progressive policies, encouraging women to vote and even stand for parliament and providing backing for the controversial
Al-Jazeera TV satellite channel, which is based in Doha, while also managing to maintain close political and trading links with the US. Nevertheless, Qataris themselves are a mystery to most visitors, as every service industry where you might usually meet local people is populated by expats. I felt I was everywhere and nowhere at the same time. I met Syrians, Lebanese, Palestinians, South Africans, Jordanians, Germans and Britons but had only fleeting interactions with Qataris. Many hold government jobs, their electricity is paid by the state and they live comfortable, subsidised lives – in contrast to the thousands of construction workers from the Indian subcontinent who flocked here looking for a share of the wealth and sleep five to a room in shabby huts next to building sites.
Wealthier expats find life in Doha challenging in other ways. One young, single British financial advisor who had just moved from Dubai and was struggling to adjust to the sudden decline in his social life told me: "Once you've lived here you do start to miss Croydon". Though later he came up with a good lure for shopaholics: "Where else can you get Prada sunglasses for under £100?"
Doha is a city firmly in transition. It already has spas, shopping malls and golf courses enough to entertain business travellers and stopover holidaymakers – with plenty more on the way – but it's not yet ready to hold the attention of leisure travellers searching for history, culture and entertainment. I felt I had stumbled across Doha before it was ready to welcome me. If I venture back in two years' time, I suspect – and hope – that I might not even recognise the place.
Getting there
London-Doha Served by Qatar Airways from Heathrow and Gatwick and by British Airways from Heathrow. Return fares with Qatar Airways (these are best booked through a travel agent) are typically: first class £3,407, business class £1,737, economy class £296 (prices sourced from Warrington-based Airline Network). Return fares with BA are first class £3,424, business class £2,159, World Traveller Plus £1,554 and economy class £423.
Doha's dream
A glance at Doha's tourism masterplan reveals why there is a frenzy of building activity around the city. In preparation for the Asian Games, Doha is upgrading its existing sports facilities and building new ones, and will soon have 30 state of the art venues, including the gleaming Khalifa Sports City.
Another work in progress is Education City, built by the Qatar Foundation, which is chaired by the Emir's wife and charged with promoting research and educational opportunities in Qatar. The site has already attracted campuses of leading US institutions including Texas A&M and Carnegie-Mellon and new additions on the way include a Science & Technology
Park and a hi-tech 350-bed specialist teaching hospital.
Riviera Arabia
The Pearl-Qatar is the jewel in the crown of Doha's grand transformation. The $2.5 billion Pearl — 350 metres off the West Bay Lagoon — is being built in four phases with the first phase due to open in 2006. The 985 acres of reclaimed land will house 30,000 residents in four styles of architecture — Monaco, Tuscan, Provencale and Florentine — reflecting its "Riviera Arabia" theme. The project is Qatar's first international real estate venture and investors are being lured in with the offer of residential rights under the freehold leases with each property. As well as trendy townhouses, penthouse apartments and palatial-style villas, the island will include three deluxe hotels, four marinas, canals, lakes, mosques, schools and of course, ample retail and restaurant space.
Doha Airport
Doha is replacing its airport with a brand-new facility, the first phase of which will cost $2.5 billion and will open in 2009, handling 12 million passengers a year. Once completed in 2015, the airport — which is being built on 40 per cent reclaimed land — will be able to handle 50 million passengers a year and will be the first airport to be designed specifically to house the four new Airbus A380-800s on order, for delivery in 2009.
